FOOD AND HEALTH ESSENTIALS

Canada amends food additive requirements

Health Canada has recently published several amendments related to permitted food additives.

Two of the amendments address the use of emulsifying, gelling, stabilising or thickening agents. The first, published in NOM/ADM-0088, expands the permitted use of polyglycerol esters of interesterified castor oil fatty acids as an emulsifying agent to include unstandardised chocolate confectionary. The second, published in NOM/ADM-0085, permits the use of lactylated mono- and di-glycerides as an emulsifying agent, and sodium stearoyl-2-lactylate as a whipping agent, in whipped yoghurt products.

An additional three amendments are intended to cover the use of enzymes in food. The first, published in NOM/ADM-0086, removes certain meat products from the list of foods permitted to contain transglutaminase. The second, published in NOM/ADM-0087, now permits the use of glucose oxidase from a specific strain of Aspergillus niger in bread, flour, whole wheat flour and unstandardised bakery products, while a third, published in NOM/ADM-0089, enables the use of amylase from bacillus subtilis in the same products.

Additional information regarding these food additive amendments is available on the Health Canada website.